Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to start by thanking you for being here. I'd like to let you know that families in my riding of Port Moody—Coquitlam will be benefiting greatly from this bill. The second-largest expense after their housing is child care. This will be life-changing for so many people in the most expensive region of the country.
I would like to revisit some information about the federal government having limited influence. I don't think those were the exact words, but the federal government doesn't necessarily have full influence here, because it's provincial-territorial and indigenous government.
I want to talk about the workers and immigration opportunities. StatsCan released data that said that 95% of child care workers are women and that one-third of those workers are immigrants and/or non-permanent residents. There's been a long-standing call from the NDP to regularize workers who are already here in Canada supporting our economy in very important ways.
I'm wondering if the action plans that were spoken of include a workforce strategy and if there are any changes being proposed to immigration law.